Poetry

I gave up writing poetry sometime during junior high. My curse is that I really do think I have a poet's soul, I just lack poetic expression. Somewhere along the line, either my limited vocabulary or my inability to create rhythm and emphasis or some combination of the two leave me unable to succinctly express myself. Alas, I am a rambler. Bless Summer Witherington, my high school BFF. With the patience of Job, she spent more of her time in high school sitting at Starbucks listening to me ramble than she did sleeping- just talking things out until I had worked them out in my mind. Sigh.

Anyway, this cursed lack of poetic expression (couple with the fact that I am a total sucker for a good ballad- hello, Bryan Adams!) lead me to find song lyrics totally captivating. I am amazed by the way lyrics say so much by saying so little. They say exactly what I'm thinking, but so much better than I ever could.

Indulge me for a moment and allow me to share some lyrics I'm currently swooning over. The whole song is good, but the chorus gets me every time...

"Unredeemed" by Selah

Life breaks and falls apart
But we know these are
Places where grace is soon to be
so amazing
It may be unfulfilled
It may be unrestored
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be unredeemed

Wow. I just couldn't say it better. The older I get, the more experiences fall short of my expectations, the more people break promises, the more mistakes I make, the more difficulties I face, the more I know this to be true.

When situations, relationships, etc. aren't restored, they are still redeemed. Every experience we walk through as Christians is redeemed. It has redeeming value, because it sheds even more light on how far we have fallen, how sufficient God's grace is, and how we should respond to that.

I love it.